As I waste the morning not drinking or watching baseball, just waiting for Game 4 to arrive, there are two things I really want to emphasize before the game gets underway:
- The A's were not lifeless, indifferent, defeatist, or "going through the motions" in Game 3. 2-hit shutouts have a way of making a team look this way--any team, including last week's Yankees and every team before them whose opposing starter never gave them a chance to get anything started. I didn't like the A's approach against Rogers, but a good approach probably translates to a 4-hit shutout. It was a bad time to run into a great pitching performance, but the A's smelled the World Series just like you did, and you can bet the house that they tried their ass off. They just failed, to a team that would beat anyone this week and is, unfortunately, matched up against your team.
- For the record, I thought the comments by Eric Chavez, about "they're just better" were, if accurately reported, stupid and unhelpful. But I imagine Chavy's teammates took them exactly as I did: As translating to, "I'm really frustrated and disappointed right now." That's a good thing. Put really badly and stupidly, but that's what I think he was saying. We all express feelings differently in the moment, and some of us choose our words more judiciously than others, especially when our stature gives extra significance to each syllable and cadence.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:30pm PDT. See you then, with the only two things I can bring to the party: the lineups and hope.
